Economic Digest

Economic Reports for the Week Ahead

ECONOMIC REPORTS Data will include retail sales for January, import prices for January and business inventories for December (Tuesday); industrial production for January (Wednesday); weekly jobless claims, the Producer Price Index for January, housing starts for January and the Philadelphia Fed index (Thursday); and the Consumer Price Index for January and leading economic indicators for January (Friday).

State commission says immigrants improve Maryland economy

Maryland Reporter - Immigrants – both legal and unauthorized – have made positive contributions to Maryland in terms of the economy and education, and the state needs to take a common-sense approach to future policy, according to a new report from a state commission on immigration. Read more ...

Fed chief warns Congress against hampering growth while cutting debt

Washington Post - Bernanke’s comments reflect the heightening concern among lawmakers and on the presidential campaign trail about how to keep the economic recovery on track while trying to rein in the federal debt in the long term. A report this week from the Congressional Budget Office laid bare the consequences if the government moved forward with plans to raise some taxes while slashing funding. Read more ...

Does foreclosure deal go far enough?

Washington Post - The current settlement was never intended to cure all the ills of the housing crisis — or to prevent separate investigations into other areas such as how mortgages were bundled and sold to investors — but rather to change abusive business practices and get relief to as many homeowners as possible, as soon as possible. Read more ...

Where the Job Growth will be in this Decade

At the occupational level, the positions with the fastest projected growth are registered nurses (expected to add 712,000 jobs), retail sales workers (707,000), home health aides (706,000) and personal care aides(607,000). The industry with the biggest projected job losses between 2010 and 2010 is the federal government, which is expected to eliminate a net 372,000 jobs. Read more ...